of Rutas Turísticas por los Bosques y la Paz aims to demonstrate the potential of community-based ecotourism in biodiversity hotspots as a means to maintain rural livelihoods, reduce deforestation, avoid greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen peacebuilding in two post-conflict regions: the Serranía de las Quinchas in Boyacá and the Serranía del Perijá in Cesar.
The project began in 2020 with a first stage during which tourism plans were developed in the municipality of Otanche in the Quinchas and in the villages of La Victoria de San Isidro and Estados Unidos in the Serranía del Perijá in a participatory manner with the communities. This initiative is being developed within the framework of the UK-PACT Colombia program of the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Strategy – BEIS UK, with an emphasis on supporting rural livelihoods while ensuring mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
This second stage will be prioritizing the implementation of the tourism plans developed in the first phase, through practical training with the communities and testing the routes by receiving three groups of tourists in each territory, to show them the magic of the culture and biodiversity of these two unexplored areas of the country. During 2021, the tourism offerings will be finalized by bringing together the different people involved in the links of the tourism chain, strengthening community governance, destination marketing, and identifying opportunities for improvement from different angles and work fronts to ensure attractive and viable destinations.
The project is advancing in five practical areas to promote quality tourism alternatives from a differential context towards peace and sustainability. In this context, the following activities are being carried out:
Promoting the development of a Marketing Plan through practical workshops with the communities, using and advancing the tools developed in the first stage.
Development of publications on useful plants in each region and training in biodiversity for tourism purposes in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens of London, KEW.
Training in gastronomy and development of local recipes with the support of renowned chefs who will take advantage of the varied biodiversity and local knowledge to offer balanced, tasty and healthy options for tourists.
Improvement of the infrastructure of lodging options, creating an architectural guide with simple, bioclimatic and aesthetically adjusted models and designs for each region, which can be used by people who want to generate lodging alternatives, with local materials, good taste and low investment.
Piloting and implementation of the tourist routes created in phase 1, and finalized tourism plans, ensuring that the tourists themselves evaluate the experience and provide feedback to the communities in order to improve the tourism offer.
Piloting and implementation of the tourism routes created in phase 1, and finalized tourism plans, with the tourists themselves evaluating the experience and providing feedback to the communities to improve the tourism offerings.
The project is being developed under the general coordination of E3, together with Think Tourism and Acorn Tourism as expert entities in community tourism, the Royal Botanical Garden- KEW who is supporting with scientific knowledge of biodiversity for tourism purposes, and the programs of Development and Peace of Cesar- PDPC Cesar and Boyacá- Boyapaz.
